WASHINGTON — Angry at the civilian casualties incurred last month in the first commando raid authorized by President Trump, Yemen has withdrawn permission for the United States to run Special Operations ground missions against suspected terrorist groups in the country, according to American officials.

Grisly photographs of children apparently killed in the crossfire of a 50-minute firefight during the raid caused outrage in Yemen. A member of the Navy’s SEAL Team 6, Chief Petty Officer William Owens, was also killed in the operation.

While the White House continues to insist that the attack was a “success” — a characterization it repeated on Tuesday — the suspension of commando operations is a setback for Mr. Trump, who has made it clear he plans to take a far more aggressive approach against Islamic militants.

It also calls into question whether the Pentagon will receive permission from the president for far more autonomy in selecting and executing its counter-terrorism missions in Yemen, which it sought, unsuccessfully, from President Barack Obama in the last months of his term.

That's a pretty serious allegation.

And it was totally false.

Rather that retract the story, the Fake News Paper of Record pushed forward in its follow-up story:

Yemen Backtracks on Suspending U.S. Raids After Civilian Casualties

WASHINGTON — Yemen’s government said on Wednesday that it had requested a “reassessment” of an American commando raid last month that killed several women and children and closer coordination on future operations, but said that it had not suspended future raids by United States Special Operations forces.

Citing American officials, The New York Times had reported on Tuesday that Yemeni authorities, angry about the civilian casualties incurred last month in the first counter-terrorism operation authorized by President Trump, had withdrawn permission for the United States to run Special Operations ground missions against suspected terrorist groups in the country.

But on Wednesday, Yemeni officials publicly backtracked somewhat from what they had told White House officials, caught between the public outrage at home over civilian deaths and fear of losing American counter-terrorism assistance. When asked about The Times report on Wednesday, the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, did not deny that American commando missions had been suspended. Referring to the Yemenis, Mr. Spicer said that “we’re going to continue to work with them to strengthen our diplomatic relationship, to understand our fight against terrorism.”

"Did not deny."

He also "did not deny" to cheating on his wife. Whatever that would mean.

Yemen said on Wednesday it had not suspended counter-terrorism operations with the U.S. government, despite controversy over a U.S. commando raid on al Qaeda militants in which several civilians were also killed.

The raid in al-Bayda province, approved by new U.S. President Donald Trump, resulted in a gun battle that left one Navy SEAL dead and an American aircraft a charred wreck. Local medics said several women and children were killed.

Yemeni officials told Reuters that Sanaa had not withdrawn its permission for the United States to carry out special operations ground missions but had made clear their "reservations" about the last operation.

The first story was wrong. After reading the Fake News, Yemen denied it. The New York Times mischaracterized that as "backtracked."

I used to think newspapers were an important part of a free society.

I now see them as a detriment. The Fake News pumped out by these propagandists is a threat to the national security.

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"Trump the Establishment" is an account on how the Establishment used the media to stop the Trump Train in the general election by constantly badgering him on personal issues, often petty. But Trump prevailed based on his abilities as a CEO, and his stances on the real issues of the economy and national security, which I also delve into.

10 comments:

The claim in the original story that the Yemenis had withdrawn their permission was not just Fake News. From the wording of the retraction, it appears to be a treasonable lie that came from an anonymous source within the US government, I presume an Obama holdover who seeks to undermine the President. Trump needs to find out who in his administration fed that story to the NY Trash and have the leaker investigated by the DoJ for possible indictment.

I always wonder about local reports on civilian deaths. Part of the problem with the unexpected resistance seen by the SEALs was probably that the women and maybe children took up arms and were not in the original intelligence count of possible terrorists that would be encountered. In the terrorist world women and children are not non-combatants. In Vietnam children were used to "deliver grenades" to American troops, just like in Iraq as was seen in the American Sniper movie. We see ISIS controlled children cut the throats of prisoners and they and other terrorist organizations showing young children armed with AK-47s.This is beyond the normal comprehension of Americans and it is being used against us. I expect the Left to start crying out about Trump's savage and unnecessary killing of women and children; just as Code Pink used to chant about Marines, "Baby killers." Americans troops are not in the habit of killing women and children up close and personal during combat, but with our military ROE and after action reports going to JAG, our people are damned if they do and damned to possibly get killed if they don't.

The jihadists always bury themselves in civilians. They know the NYT or others will provide propaganda for them if there is a political need on the left, as it is now with Trump in office. We don't even know what really happened in this raid or even if it was a successful mission in spite of the Seal death. Two Seals I met at charity events 2 years apart both told me we could do with being more aggressive not less.

During the early months of US bombing of North Vietnam, we'd hear that North Vietnamese sources reported that a US bombing raid had struck schools, hospitals, and cemeteries. It took a little while for the North Vietnamese to realize we Americans didn't really give a hoot about bombing cemeteries. Once they did, the cemeteries were dropped from things the Yankee Air Pirates were doing to the poor, minding-their-own-business North Vietnamese.

FAKE NEWS FOLLIES OF 2017

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I live in Poca, West Virginia, with my lovely wife of 40 years, Lou Ann. I am an Army veteran and Cleveland State graduate. I retired after 40 years as a newspaperman. In 2016, I published "Trump the Press," which drew rave reviews at Power Line and Instapundit.